Calls on Facebook to oust Syria’s Assad

A Facebook page has called for mass protests in Syria and in several Western countries against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The organisers of the page, which had 25,000 fans early on Saturday, said the date for demonstrations to be held “in all Syrian cities” was being carefully studied and “will be determined in a few days.”

It urged “peaceful demonstrations in all Syrian cities, in Canada, in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and Australia” to demand Assad’s ouster.

Assad became president in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, and was returned for a second seven-year term in a referendum in 2007 in which he was the only candidate.